My story

Who do I admire the most in my life?

The person I admired the most is my mom because she has been raising me by herself since I was 3 years old. My parents divorced when I was 3 years old and as of present my father is not involved in my life. Therefore, my mom has been the one to be there for me both academically and athletically.

My mother, Priscilla Welch-DeLaere, is a Hall of Fame (2009) from Illinois State University. She played softball at Illinois State University from 1993-1997 and in 1997 she was a NCAA All American. After completing her undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Education, she works as a full time chemistry and physics teacher at Pekin Community High School (1999 - current). Within the first four years of teaching, she also continue to play professional softball for the Virginia Roadsters (1997-99) and Ohio Pride (2000) (all time rosters). In addition to these great accomplishments is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference All Century team. At the same time she coached volleyball (1999-present) and was the head softball coach. Later on in her career she was freshmen girls basketball coach for a couple of years. She continues to be active around sports by working the score table (scorekeeper, stats, or timer) her entire 23 years she has been working there for both the girls and boys basketball program. So if you come to any of the Pekin Community High School basketball games, home or away, she will be the one behind the scoretable doing the scorebook or whatever needs to get done. If you come to a PCHS varsity baseball game she will be the one annoucing the game and doing the scorebook for the home games (in press box) and for away games she does the scorebook. In addition to that she has coached my travel baseball teams for a couple of years. She continues to play competitive fastpitch softball at the age of 46 (don't tell her I told you that) for the team called Lady Rage where she will play any position but catcher. Her love of sports has influenced me because I really enjoy having the same interests as my mom. She has taught me that at the end the game its about how you feel walking off the court or gym. The experiences that you have with your teammates and coaches will last you a lifetime. Her players, current and past, always love to be around her regardless if they had won or lost the game. She respects the game and the players. That is where I have learned that regardless of the win or loss or whether I have agreed or disagreed with a coach that you still need to respect the "game".

In terms of academically, she inspires because she has taught chemistry and physics classes at Pekin Community High School for 22 years (as of 2021 school term). She teaches the Dual Credit and Advanced Placement courses for both Chemistry and Physics, as well as, teach the general Chemistry and Physics courses. Therefore, she has had to be very organized and had also to continue her education to be able to teach those courses. She obtained her first master's degree from Illinois State University in Chemistry Education (2017) and then a second masters degree from Illinois State University (2019) in Teaching and Learning with Technology. Therefore, she has taught me that education is important and to continue to strive to do as well as possible with my education. This includeds challenging myself to take AP Physics coming my senior year (2021-22), as well, as an Advanced Communication course. I have obtained 23 credits of courses (conclusion of junior year) -- our school requires us to have 22.5 to graduate. In order to do that I have taken 8 courses a year - instead of the traditional 7 courses that most students take. To achieve this, I have taken an early bird course that is before school starts each of the four years I have attended Pekin Community High School.

Other family members that have played collegiate sports:

• My father, Eric DeLaere, played for Illinois State University football program (1993-97), as well as, play semi-pro football for the Peoria Pirates.

• My mother, Priscilla Welch-DeLaere, Illinois State University Hall of Fame (softball), Missouri Valley Conference All Century Softball Team

• My uncle played football for Northern Iowa, Marc DeLaere (see article above).

• My aunt, Yvonne Welch-Thompson, played college volleyball for Illinois Central College and Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville (SIUE).

• My cousin, Hannah Thompson, currently plays for Bradley University volleyball program.

• My other uncle, Dirk Welch, played both basketball and baseball at Taylor University.